Rise in sales and investment, drop in employment

A sample survey among manufacturing firms shows that while sales and investment went up in the first quarter of this year when compared to the same quarter last year, there was a drop in employment, the National Statistics Office said.

During the first quarter of this year, total sales by the manufacturing companies participating in the survey rose by Lm13.2 million, or 5.7 per cent, to Lm245.7 million.

Export-oriented enterprises generated Lm203.3 million or 82.7 per cent of total sales.

On the other hand, employment slipped by 97 employees to 18,142.

During the January-March quarter, overall investment amounted to Lm20.7 million, an increase of Lm3 million.